Chapter III: Jubilee Hall

Jubilee Hall stood on the summit of a not very high hill, which, however, commanded a splendid view of both sea and mountain. It was a large and handsome building, with a turret at each end; and as all the windows of the principal rooms faced the south, it was a peculiarly warm and sunny residence. It was not an old castle or hall, so it had not the small many-paned windows which generally deprive the inhabitants of light and warmth; on the contrary, the windows, which were remarkably large and handsome, opened down to the very ground, and, protected in the inside by light and unobtrusive bars, allowed those within to get the most uninterrupted view of the landscape outside, and admitted the most delicious scent from the flowers in the ornamental garden beneath.

Harry and Fred stood entranced at the view from their bedroom window, when, their luggage having been carried upstairs, and their first meeting with their aunt being over, they had had time to look about them a little. Their bedroom and their sister's opened off each other, which was a great comfort to Kathleen, who had felt very nervous at the thought of having to sleep alone at a distance from her brothers; but the rooms, with their pretty chintz curtains and bright wall-paper, looked so cozy and cheerful, it would have been difficult to feel either lonely or timorous, and the boys agreed that, splendid as they had thought the place would be, it was ten times more splendiferous and jolly than they had expected.

And as the day wore on, and they grew acquainted with all the other young guests at the Hall, and they had been introduced to the unlimited beds of strawberries and raspberries, and the actual acres of gooseberry-bushes in the garden, they could find no words even in their school vocabulary (which was extraordinarily large and ample enough) to express the fulness of their happiness. Aunt Marian was a stunner, the jolliest cove in England; she was Al; she was no end of a brick; while Kathleen gave her, perhaps, the greatest praise of all when she said she was nearly as nice as her own mamma. And when at last the first happy day came to an end, the boys rejoiced to think that the long mid-summer holidays lay stretched out before them, and that for seven long weeks this wonderful fairy-tale life of enjoyment was to last.

Aunt Marian, or Lady Brinsley, as she was known to the world in general, was the widow of a very wealthy officer and baronet, who had died many years ago when engaged on active service in India, and who had left four young children for his wife to look after and educate. This trust Lady Brinsley had carried out with the most zealous love and watchfulness, and her children well repaid all her care, for they were quite devoted to their mother, and made her wishes their law. It was only within the last two years they had come to live at Jubilee Hall, the family place, as Lady Brinsley, by her husband's dying wish, had taken the children abroad to receive a good foreign education, and also to give time for the Hall to be put into the most thorough state of repair and finish, for under its former owner it had fallen into a partial state of rum. So the whole place was now in the most perfect order and beauty; and it was Lady Brinsley's delight and pride to keep it in this state, and to make the house thoroughly sociable and comfortable.

"I say," cried Fred, after they had come into their own room at night, and were preparing for bed, "this is a regular palace of a house. Did you see all the wonderful places there are downstairs--cellars, and china-closets, and dairies, and store-rooms by the dozen?"

"No," replied Harry; "I don't even know whereabouts they are. How did you manage to come across them?"

"Simply by using my eyes and my legs and a trifle of brains into the bargain. I was cutting down one of the passages this afternoon when we were playing hide-and-seek, when I came across a funny little round staircase going down from outside Aunt Marian's boudoir right into the lower part of the house; so I just crept quietly down it, to see where it led to, and it was just like the Tower of London, with all sorts of dark rooms, and some extraordinary great iron doors, with huge bars across them, and three or four locks on each. And right under the last flight of steps, just where it stops going round and round in a circumbendibus sort of way, and finishes off like any other flight of steps, there is one of the jolliest store-rooms you ever saw. It runs right away under the stairs, and has a window looking out into the passage; and, my eyes! if you only saw the rows of shelves, and all the jolly things on them--boxes and boxes of preserved fruit, and actual pyramids of lump-sugar, and figs, and raisins, and crackers, and plum-cake, and a thousand other rare and delicious things. I'd give a good deal to have the run of the premises for an hour, and have leave to grub whatever I liked."

"So should I," joined in Harry. "You must show me to-morrow where it is. I'd like awfully to have a squint at it."

"All square; I'll show you the way. But it will make your mouth water, I can tell you; and all to no good, as the door is shut as tight as wax, and there is a wire fence inside of the window that a gnat couldn't squeeze through, so I would not have you try it on, old boy."

"My dear fellow, what humbug you are talking; as if I should want to squeeze into any such place. A nice cowardly trick it would be, when Aunt Marian's so awfully good to us, and gives us every jolly thing to eat or drink which we could possibly want to have."

"Well, and who said they wanted to get into it?"

"You did."

"No, I didn't."

"You said something very like it then."

"I said nothing within a hundred miles of it."

"Well, have it your own way."

"I'll have my own way, and no thanks to you, you may be sure of that." said Fred, his voice waxing louder as his anger grew. "A fellow can't say it's a fine day without your finding--"

Here the door between the two rooms opened, and Kathleen put in her little grave face, which looked very white and frightened. "Boys, what is the matter?"

"Nothing; go to bed."

"You are not quarrelling, are you?"

"Quarrelling, humbug; shut the door, and cut."

"Mamma told me to be sure and remind you both to say your prayers before you got into bed."

"Shut the door this instant, or I'll shy a book at your head!" shouted Fred, losing all command over his temper. So Kathleen shut the door, and after a little time, as all remained silent in her brothers' room, she closed her eyes and fell fast asleep.